Wasn't sure how else to title this post so here goes. Last year I bought my first motor, a 82 Suzuki Spirit 25hp. It took a lot of tinkering but eventually got up and running but was never as smooth as I wanted and I never felt like I could really trust it. Some was for sure the operator but I think in several ways I bought someone else's problems. To make a long stories short, at the end of the duck season last year I got swept in to some weedy shallow water in a head wind and the water intake got clogged and the motor overheated and she is fried now. So, I am in the hunt for another motor!
While I wished it wasn't so painful and expensive, I learned a lot about motors and exactly what I want in my next motor. So here is my wish list in some order of importance:
Domestic (Suzuki parts are a ***** to find and plenty expensive) so Merc, Johnson, Evinrude
Would like a easily seen tell tale to make sure I know if the intake is plugged (the Suzuki tell tale was low on the leg and when the motor was overheating I would have had to lean over the motor to see if water was coming out.
25 hp
tiller
long shaft
Would like an automatic shut off when the motor overheats but I am not sure when this started to become standard.
$1000-1200 max price.
1990-1999 year motor.
The motor is used a lot for duck hunting so it needs to be reliable and have a good manual tilt so I can shallow run (the Suzuki I had did not have tilt and I didn't know to look for that when I bought the motor)
2 stroke
I am looking for some expertise and opinion on what year, make, etc people think I should look for this time around. The most important thing is reliability as I can't be getting stuck out there when the weather turns to crap and the ducks are flying! Safety first!
thanks to all who help
Chris
While I wished it wasn't so painful and expensive, I learned a lot about motors and exactly what I want in my next motor. So here is my wish list in some order of importance:
Domestic (Suzuki parts are a ***** to find and plenty expensive) so Merc, Johnson, Evinrude
Would like a easily seen tell tale to make sure I know if the intake is plugged (the Suzuki tell tale was low on the leg and when the motor was overheating I would have had to lean over the motor to see if water was coming out.
25 hp
tiller
long shaft
Would like an automatic shut off when the motor overheats but I am not sure when this started to become standard.
$1000-1200 max price.
1990-1999 year motor.
The motor is used a lot for duck hunting so it needs to be reliable and have a good manual tilt so I can shallow run (the Suzuki I had did not have tilt and I didn't know to look for that when I bought the motor)
2 stroke
I am looking for some expertise and opinion on what year, make, etc people think I should look for this time around. The most important thing is reliability as I can't be getting stuck out there when the weather turns to crap and the ducks are flying! Safety first!
thanks to all who help
Chris